MARK DREYFUS MP

Member for Isaacs

Parliament House Doorstop 21 October 2019

21 October 2019

SUBJECTS: Press Freedom; Trade.

MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS


E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
CANBERRA
MONDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2019

SUBJECTS: Press Freedom; Trade.

MARK DREYFUS, SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Labor supports the Right To Know Coalition and their campaign for freedom of the press.

Unlike the Morrison Government Labor believes in freedom of the press. Let's not forget that when the police raids on the home of a journalist and the offices of journalists took place back in June, Scott Morrison said that he wasn't troubled. Even this morning he's saying that he believes in freedom of the press, but he's qualifying that.

What's important is that the Government takes action. The Government needs to rule out prosecuting Dan Oakes, Sam Clark, and Annika Smethurst who are the journalists that are still at risk of being prosecuted for simply doing their work.

The Government needs to introduce legislation that better protects journalists when they are doing their jobs. The Government needs to introduce legislation, which better protects whistleblowers. And the Government needs to comply with Freedom of Information laws. Those are the main things that the Right To Know Coalition is asking for. The Government needs to start doing all of those things straight away. It's not enough to just set up an inquiry. It's not enough to pay lip service to press freedom.

JOURNALIST: What is Labor prepared to do to ensure that public interest journalism is safe?

DREYFUS: As I've just said, Labor supports the Right To Know Coalition in its campaign for press freedom. Labor will work with the Government, but it's the Government which needs to bring in legislation. That's what the Right To Know Coalition is asking for. Labor will support legislation that improves protection of whistleblowers. Labor will support legislation which improves the protection that journalists have against prosecution and it's for the Government to bring forward legislation to the House.

JOURNALIST: Christian Porter yesterday said he'd give no assurances to journalists that he would not sign off on their prosecution. Do you think that's weak?

DREYFUS: It's not enough for Mr Porter to simply express a sentiment. What the Morrison Government has to do - and this can come from the top, it can come from Scott Morrison - is to rule out prosecution of Dan Oakes and Sam Clark from the ABC and Annika Smethurst from the Courier Mail. They need to know that they don't have this hanging over their heads. They need to know, and all Australian journalists need to know, that the intimidation that comes from a potential prosecution against these journalists is now at an end.

There's an extraordinary chilling effect that occurs when you have police raids on a journalists home and police raids on the offices of journalists. That chilling effect is that whistleblowers aren't prepared to come forward. Journalists aren't prepared to write things. Journalists aren't prepared to do full investigations. It's absolutely imperative that the Government change the situation that's been created in Australia by police raids having occurred back in June.

JOURNALIST: Barnaby Joyce said this morning that journalists don't really have any credibility when they talk about doing public interest journalism and that goes to the fact that any public interest test wouldn't be possible. What do you make of that? Do you think that is accurate?

DREYFUS: I think it's laughable for Barnaby Joyce to be suggesting that journalists don't have credibility. It's a long time since Barnaby Joyce's has had any credibility.

It's a vital part that's played in our democracy by journalists. The media make the right to know real for Australians. The media are the means by which Australians can learn about the activities of the Government. The media are the way in which investigations can take place and be published, so that all Australians can be properly informed and participate in our democracy.

I think it's an absurd attack by Barnaby Joyce to suggest that we can't have a test for public interest. For decades, there have been conventions, well understood conventions in Australian government, that journalists are not a target for police raids, that journalists are not a target for prosecution. And the reason why those conventions have existed is because it has been absolutely well understood by everyone in government until the Morrison Government came along, perhaps one could say the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Government as well. But for the last six years, we've had a creeping decline in the freedom of the press and it's because this Government does not understand those conventions. This Government absolutely clearly does not understand the important role that's played by journalists and the press in our democracy.

JOURNALIST: How worried should the public be?

DREYFUS: I think the public should be very worried. It's an unprecedented event that all media organisations joined by the media union should have launched the campaign that launched with TV ads last night, and has continued today with the front pages of every Australian newspaper.

I think the alarm that's being expressed by the Right To Know campaign is absolutely justified. Labor is adding its voice to the voice of this campaign to call on the Government to do something, to call on the Government to bring in legislation, as I've explained, to call on the Government to rule out prosecution of the three journalists.

It's not enough for the Government to just use these platitudes and weasel words of saying, we support freedom of the press, when the reality is the Government is not doing anything. The Government is not changing the law. The Government is showing that it doesn't understand any of the long established conventions in this area and the Government is not ruling out these prosecutions. It needs action, not simply the platitudes that we're hearing from Scott Morrison.

JOURNALIST: Just in relation to the free trade agreements, is Labor on a crash course with the unions on this?

DREYFUS: Not at all. We've had very detailed Caucus discussions last week, and we've announced that we're going to be supporting the legislation that's going to be brought in, well be called on to vote on, that support these free trade agreements. Bear in mind, of course, that the legislation only deals with customs tariff changes. The signing of these agreements is a matter for the executive government of Australia.

JOURNALIST: What would you say to unions that are concerned this doesn't protect workers right?

DREYFUS: Id ask the unions to look very carefully at the actual text of these agreements. I'd ask the unions to bear in mind that Labor did not negotiate the terms of these agreements. We've got clear positions

JOURNALIST: You're supporting them.

DREYFUS: We are supporting these agreements because we think, on balance, that the free trade agreements should be supported. And if there are details in them that might have been negotiated differently by Labor in government, that's not something, at present, that we are in a position to change.

ENDS